Death_Penalty_2005_nowy.qxd 2005-09-08 17:00 Page 55 OTHER INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ON THE DEATH PENALTY UN Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2005/59 Question of the death penalty The Commission on Human Rights, Recalling article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms the right of everyone to life, convinced that the abolition of the death penalty is essential for the protection of this right and recalling article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and articles 6 and 37 (a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Taking note that the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that no one within the jurisdiction of a State party shall be executed and that each State party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction, Recalling the entry into force, on 1 July 2003, of Protocol No. 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights), concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances, Recalling also its previous resolutions in which it expressed its conviction that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and to the progressive development of human rights, Welcoming the exclusion of capital punishment from the penalties that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court are authorized to impose, Welcoming also the abolition of the death penalty in some States since the last session of the Commission and decisions taken in other States that restrict the use of the death penalty, inter alia through excluding certain categories of persons or offences from its application, Commending States that have recently acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Welcoming the fact that many countries that still retain the death penalty in their penal legislation are applying a moratorium on executions, and also welcoming the 55